The question then was, which way the latter came by them.

In answer to this question the privy council report, which was then on the table, afforded evidence the most satisfactory and conclusive.

He had found things in it, which had confirmed every proposition he had maintained before, whether this proposition had been gathered from living information of the best authority, or from the histories he had read.

But it was unnecessary either to quote the report, or to appeal to history on this occasion.

Plain reason and common sense would point out how the poor Africans were obtained.